Pension Pulse

Luke Gallin of Reinsurance News reports that legacy specialist Compre will be acquired by Cinven and BCI: Private equity firm Cinven and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) have reached an agreement to purchase legacy acquirer, Compre, from existing shareholders CBPE Capital LLP, Hudson Structured Management Limited, and Compre’s management. Following the transaction, Cinven and BCI will become majority shareholders alongside Compre’s management team, led by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Will Bridger, and will provide the additional capital needed to meet the company’s ambitious growth plans. Under the ownership of CBPE, Compre completed 21 transactions in 10 jurisdictions, including its first in the U.S., which ultimately enabled it to establish its Bermuda legacy platform. Commenting on the deal with Cinven and BCI, Bridger said: “I am delighted to announce that Compre will be working with Cinven and BCI as our new majority shareholders to realise ou...

 Fred Imbert reports the S&P 500 closes at another record Friday, gains 2% on week: Stocks rose on Friday as traders wrapped up a strong week amid decreasing political uncertainty and positive vaccine news. The S&P 500 gained 0.3% to end the day at 3,638.35, notching a record closing high. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.9% to 12,205.85 and also closed at an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 37.90 points, or 0.1%, at 29,910.37. Friday’s session ended at 1 p.m. ET. The Dow and S&P 500 rose 2.2% and 2.3%, respectively, for the week. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, posted a weekly gain of nearly 3%. Earlier in the week, the Dow jumped to an all-time high, breaking above 30,000 for the first time and hit an all-time high.  “What we’re witnessing today, this week and this month, is a continuation in the rise of optimism,” said Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at Harvest Volatility Management. “The environment for risk assets has b...

These are Parts 5.2 and 5.3 (continuation of last week's Part 5.1 ) of a seven part series on integrated Total Fund Management brought to you by Mihail Garchev, the former VP and Head of Total Fund Management at BCI and I.  As discussed last week, this is the nexus of TFM and we decided to break Part 5 down into three parts because it was a lot of material.  Please take the time to read Mihail's synopsis below on case studies followed by my comments and clips where he delves deeply into today's topic (added emphasis is mine): This week, we continue our journey into the various practical uses of the Total Fund Management ("TFM") framework and process to solve real-life problems related to total fund decision-making. Before we proceed with the topics today, let us summarize the key takeaways from Episode 5.1. Key takeaways from the first set of case studies in Episode 5.1 last week Last week, we looked at the first set of case studies focused specific...

Tim Kiladze of The Globe and Mail reports Canada’s top pension funds issue rare joint call for better ESG disclosures: The heads of Canada's eight largest pension funds, collectively responsible for $1.6 trillion is assets, are banding together for a rare joint request, pleading with corporations to beef up their environmental, social and governance disclosures by reporting the data in a standardized fashion. ESG factors such as diversity initiatives and carbon footprint disclosures, have become crucial investment criteria for institutional money managers in recent years, but the way these companies report these risks and commitments is akin to the Wild West. To streamline decision-making, Canadian pension fund chief executive officers have worked for the past six months to mutually agree on the best frameworks for companies to use -- those from the Sustainability and Accounting Standards Board and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. The leaders backing this i...